This invention relates to a snow disposal or flow control manipulation system and a method therefor.
In cities and towns where snow is ploughed from the streets or similar areas, and subsequently collected for disposal, it is generally the norm that the snow is collected by a snow blower or loader and placed into trucks, which then transport the collected snow to land sites where it is dumped and permitted to melt during warmer weather.
Snow removal has become a very expensive and time consuming affair. In general, the collection and disposal of snow can run into the millions of dollars each year even for smaller cities and towns. To a large extent, the cost of snow disposal relates to the cartage of snow from the area to the areas where it is to be stored or dumped. In modern cities, since there is very little area for the snow to be dumped or other sites for disposal, it must be transported significant distances to find disposal sites.
In the past, other alternatives have been considered such as dumping of the snow at closer locations where there may be a lake or stream. However, it is not as environmentally desirable to do this since snow gathered from streets or other areas is frequently polluted and generate ecological shock.
On the other hand, most cities have an underground sewage system and as such, the underground conduits , normally carry important volumes of warm water or liquid, which may then be treated at sewage treatment plants. Again, most cities have a relatively large number of conduits extending throughout the city infrastructure but such conduits, which connect the city streets via manhole covers, are generally only small diameter conduits e.g. two to four feet or so. Up until now, it has basically been impossible to be able to use the common type of manholes and associated conduits since no means has existed for loading or discharging snow from cartage vehicles into the sewer systems without clogging the manhole and with proper flow control so it does not arrive at the sewage treatment plant in a non-melted state.
Other proposals for disposing of snow have also included devices for melting snow into the sewer system. In general, cartage trucks will take a load of snow to a central point and dump the load into large heated bins, which melt the snow using an energy source such as electrical or fuel fired burners. Such a procedure is quite costly in terms of energy consumption and is not economically advantageous.
It would therefore be desirable if the conventional sewer system could be employed to dispose of snow, thus reducing the cartage distances and at the same time, eliminating snow build up in vacant land sites or dumping in natural water reservoirs where it may be illegal to do so.